Reduced resistance source and drain extensions in vertical field effect transistors

ABSTRACT

Semiconductor devices and methods of forming the same include forming first charged spacers on sidewalls of a semiconductor fin. A gate stack on the fin is formed over the first charged spacers. Second charged spacers are formed on sidewalls of the fin above the gate stack. The fin is recessed to a height below a top level of the second charged spacers.

BACKGROUND Technical Field

The present invention generally relates to vertical field effecttransistors and, more particularly, to processes and structures toreduce the resistance of source and drain regions in vertical fieldeffect transistors.

Description of the Related Art

The resistance of source and drain regions in vertical field effecttransistors (FETs) affects the electrical properties of every suchdevice on an integrated chip. In particular, a higher resistance inthese structures results in higher power draw and higher heatproduction. As devices scale to ever-smaller sizes, the resistance ofthe source and drain regions increases proportionally.

Each vertical FET has a top source/drain and a bottom source/drain andrespective source/drain extensions. The bottom source/drain extensioncan be doped by diffusion from a highly-doped source/drain region. Theresistance of the bottom source/drain extension can be decreased byincreasing the amount of dopant. However, dopant diffusion produces adopant gradient that can result in dopant reaching the FET's channel,which can degrade gate electrostatics and increase overlap capacitance.

Formation of the top source/drain extension has the same problem as theformation of the bottom source/drain extension, but may involveadditional complications. If the gate stack is already in place,high-temperature diffusion should be avoided. One solution is to firstetch back semiconductor fins to the bottom of a top spacer andepitaxially grow the highly doped extension region. However, this etchis difficult to control with precision, and an overetch can lead to highoverlap capacitance, while an underetch can lead to high extensionresistance.

SUMMARY

A method of forming a semiconductor device includes forming firstcharged spacers on sidewalls of a semiconductor fin. A gate stack on thefin is formed over the first charged spacers. Second charged spacers areformed on sidewalls of the fin above the gate stack. The fin is recessedto a height below a top level of the second charged spacers.

A semiconductor device includes one or more semiconductor fins formed ona semiconductor substrate. A lower spacer is formed above the substrate.First charged spacers are formed on sidewalls of the semiconductor fins.A gate stack is formed above the first charged spacers and the lowerspacer. Second charged spacers are formed on sidewalls of the one ormore semiconductor fins above the gate stack.

These and other features and advantages will become apparent from thefollowing detailed description of illustrative embodiments thereof,which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following description will provide details of preferred embodimentswith reference to the following figures wherein:

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional diagram of a step in the formation ofvertical field effect transistors (FETs) that have reduced source/drainresistance in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional diagram of a step in the formation ofvertical FETs that have reduced source/drain resistance in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional diagram of a step in the formation ofvertical FETs that have reduced source/drain resistance in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional diagram of a step in the formation ofvertical FETs that have reduced source/drain resistance in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional diagram of a step in the formation ofvertical FETs that have reduced source/drain resistance in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional diagram of a step in the formation ofvertical FETs that have reduced source/drain resistance in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional diagram of a step in the formation ofvertical FETs that have reduced source/drain resistance in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional diagram of a step in the formation ofvertical FETs that have reduced source/drain resistance in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional diagram of a step in the formation ofvertical FETs that have reduced source/drain resistance in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional diagram of a step in the formation ofvertical FETs that have reduced source/drain resistance in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional diagram of a step in the formation ofvertical FETs that have reduced source/drain resistance in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional diagram of a step in the formation ofvertical FETs that have reduced source/drain resistance in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional diagram of a step in the formation ofvertical FETs that have reduced source/drain resistance in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional diagram of a step in the formation ofvertical FETs that have reduced source/drain resistance in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional diagram of a step in the formation ofvertical FETs that have reduced source/drain resistance in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16 is a cross-sectional diagram of a step in the formation ofvertical FETs that have reduced source/drain resistance in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 17 is a cross-sectional diagram of a step in the formation ofvertical FETs that have reduced source/drain resistance in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 18 is a block/flow diagram of a method of forming vertical FETsthat have reduced source/drain resistance in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present invention provide source/drain extensions forvertical field effect transistors (FETs) that use a layer of chargeddielectric material along the extension regions. The layer of chargeddielectric material induces additional mobile charges in the extensionregion, thereby reducing the extension resistance. The charges provide alocal electric field that increases the free carrier density in theextension region. The processes described herein further provide naturalself-alignment and circumvent the tradeoff between extension resistanceand short-channel effect that result from diffusion gradients.

Referring now to the drawings in which like numerals represent the sameor similar elements and initially to FIG. 1, a cross-sectional view of astep in the fabrication of a vertical FET is shown. A hardmask 104 isformed on a semiconductor substrate 102. The semiconductor substrate 102may be a bulk-semiconductor substrate. In one example, thebulk-semiconductor substrate may be a silicon-containing material.Illustrative examples of silicon-containing materials suitable for thebulk-semiconductor substrate include, but are not limited to, silicon,silicon germanium, silicon germanium carbide, silicon carbide,polysilicon, epitaxial silicon, amorphous silicon, and multi-layersthereof. Although silicon is the predominantly used semiconductormaterial in wafer fabrication, alternative semiconductor materials canbe employed, such as, but not limited to, germanium, gallium arsenide,gallium nitride, cadmium telluride, and zinc selenide. Although notdepicted in the present figures, the semiconductor substrate 102 mayalso be a semiconductor on insulator (SOI) substrate. The hardmask 104may be formed from, e.g., silicon nitride or any other appropriatehardmask material.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a cross-sectional view of a step in thefabrication of a vertical FET is shown. Fins 202 are formed in thesubstrate 102 by anisotropically etching the substrate 102 around thehardmask 104. It is specifically contemplated that a selective reactiveion etch (RIE) may be used to form the fins 202, but any appropriateetch may be used instead. As used herein, the term “selective” inreference to a material removal process denotes that the rate ofmaterial removal for a first material is greater than the rate ofremoval for at least another material of the structure to which thematerial removal process is being applied.

RIE is a form of plasma etching in which during etching the surface tobe etched is placed on a radio-frequency powered electrode. Moreover,during RIE the surface to be etched takes on a potential thataccelerates the etching species extracted from plasma toward thesurface, in which the chemical etching reaction is taking place in thedirection normal to the surface. Other examples of anisotropic etchingthat can be used at this point of the present invention include ion beametching, plasma etching or laser ablation. Alternatively, the fins 202can be formed by spacer imaging transfer.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a cross-sectional view of a step in thefabrication of a vertical FET is shown. A thin protective film 302 isconformally formed over the fins 202 and the substrate 102. It isspecifically contemplated that the protective film 302 may be formedfrom silicon nitride, but any appropriate material may be used instead.The protective film 302 protects the sidewalls of the fins 202 fromdopant implantation 304.

Dopant implantation may be performed using, e.g., an ion implantationprocess that uses electric fields to accelerate dopant ions to highenergy and to bombard the surface of the substrate 102. The thinprotective film 302 is sufficient to prevent the downward moving ionsfrom implanting in the fins 202, but the ions penetrate the horizontalsurfaces of the thin protective film 302 to infiltrate the substrate102. It is specifically contemplated that a dopant concentration betweenabout 10¹⁸ cm⁻³ and about 10²² cm⁻³ may be implanted, but concentrationsgreater or lesser than that range are also contemplated.

The thin protective film 302 may be formed by any appropriate processincluding, e.g., chemical vapor deposition (CVD), physical vapordeposition (PVD), atomic layer deposition (ALD), or gas cluster ion beam(GCIB) deposition. CVD is a deposition process in which a depositedspecies is formed as a result of chemical reaction between gaseousreactants at greater than room temperature (e.g., from about 25° C.about 900° C.). The solid product of the reaction is deposited on thesurface on which a film, coating, or layer of the solid product is to beformed. Variations of CVD processes include, but are not limited to,Atmospheric Pressure CVD (APCVD), Low Pressure CVD (LPCVD), PlasmaEnhanced CVD (PECVD), and Metal-Organic CVD (MOCVD) and combinationsthereof may also be employed. In alternative embodiments that use PVD, asputtering apparatus may include direct-current diode systems, radiofrequency sputtering, magnetron sputtering, or ionized metal plasmasputtering. In alternative embodiments that use ALD, chemical precursorsreact with the surface of a material one at a time to deposit a thinfilm on the surface. In alternative embodiments that use GCIBdeposition, a high-pressure gas is allowed to expand in a vacuum,subsequently condensing into clusters. The clusters can be ionized anddirected onto a surface, providing a highly anisotropic deposition.

The dopant type will depend on the desired device type and may be eithern-type dopant or p-type dopant. As used herein, “n-type” refers to theaddition of impurities that contribute free electrons to an intrinsicsemiconductor. In a silicon containing substrate, examples of n-typedopants, i.e., impurities, include but are not limited to antimony,arsenic and phosphorous. As used herein, “p-type” refers to the additionof impurities to an intrinsic semiconductor that creates deficiencies ofvalence electrons. In a silicon-containing substrate, examples of p-typedopants, i.e., impurities, include but are not limited to: boron,aluminum, gallium and indium.

Referring now to FIG. 4, a cross-sectional view of a step in thefabrication of a vertical FET is shown. The thin protective film 302 isremoved by any appropriate etching process such as, e.g., a timed,isotropic, wet or dry chemical etch. The structures are heated toencourage diffusion of the dopants 306 to fill in the volume of thesubstrate 102 underneath the fins 202 as well as a bottom portion 402 ofthe fins 202.

Referring now to FIG. 5, a cross-sectional view of a step in thefabrication of a vertical FET is shown. A layer of charged dielectricmaterial is deposited using, any appropriate deposition process such as,e.g., CVD, ALD, etc. The charged dielectric material is then etched awayfrom the horizontal surfaces using a selective anisotropic etch such as,e.g., RIE. It is specifically contemplated that the dielectric materialused may be, e.g., silicon nitride, though it should be understood thatother materials such as aluminum oxide may be used instead. Inparticular embodiments, silicon nitride may be used for n-type FETs andaluminum oxide may be used for p-type FETs. Charged spacers 502 remainon the sidewalls of the fins 202. Silicon nitride and aluminum oxide canhold charges of about 10¹³ C/cm² at their interface with thesemiconductor fins 202. Assuming a fin width of about 8 nm, this meansthat there may be about 2.5e19/cm³ free charge carriers.

Referring now to FIG. 6, a cross-sectional view of a step in thefabrication of a vertical FET is shown. A layer of bottom spacermaterial 602 is formed using a directional deposition process such as,e.g., GCIB. It is specifically contemplated that the bottom spacermaterial 602 can be silicoboron carbonitride or any other appropriatedielectric material.

Referring now to FIG. 7, a cross-sectional view of a step in thefabrication of a vertical FET is shown. An isotropic etch such as a wetor dry chemical etch is used to remove exposed portions of the chargeddielectric spacer 502, thereby exposing the fins 202. A bottom portion702 of the charged dielectric spacer remains, protected by the bottomspacer material 602.

Referring now to FIG. 8, a cross-sectional view of a step in thefabrication of a vertical FET is shown. A gate dielectric layer 802 isconformally deposited over the fins 202 and the bottom spacer material602 by, e.g., CVD, PVD, ALD, or any other appropriate depositionprocess. It is specifically contemplated that the gate dielectric layer802 may be formed from a high-k dielectric material such as, e.g.,hafnium oxide, hafnium silicon oxide, hafnium silicon oxynitride,lanthanum oxide, lanthanum aluminum oxide, zirconium oxide, zirconiumsilicon oxide, zirconium silicon oxynitride, tantalum oxide, titaniumoxide, barium strontium titanium oxide, barium titanium oxide, strontiumtitanium oxide, yttrium oxide, aluminum oxide, lead scandium tantalumoxide, and lead zinc niobate. The high-k dielectric may further includedopants such as lanthanum and aluminum. Any other appropriate dielectricmaterial may be used as an alternative to a high-k dielectric. As usedherein, the term, “high-k” denotes a dielectric material having adielectric constant k that is higher than the dielectric constant ofsilicon dioxide.

After deposition of the gate dielectric layer 802, a gate material 804is deposited. The gate material 804 may include a conductive metal suchas, e.g., tungsten, nickel, titanium, molybdenum, tantalum, copper,platinum, silver, gold, ruthenium, iridium, rubidium, rhenium, andalloys thereof, or other conductive materials such as, e.g., dopedpolysilicon.

Referring now to FIG. 9, a cross-sectional view of a step in thefabrication of a vertical FET is shown. The gate material 804 ispolished down using, e.g., a chemical mechanical planarization (CMP)process that stops on the hardmask 104. CMP is performed using, e.g., achemical or granular slurry and mechanical force to gradually removeupper layers of the device. The slurry may be formulated to be unable todissolve, for example, silicon nitride, resulting in the CMP process'sinability to proceed any farther than the hardmask 104.

Referring now to FIG. 10, a cross-sectional view of a step in thefabrication of a vertical FET is shown. The gate material 804 is etchedback using any appropriate isotropic or anisotropic etch to form gate1002. The exposed portions of the gate dielectric layer 802 are etchedaway using an isotropic etch to form gate dielectric 1004. Top portionsof the fins 202 are exposed.

Referring now to FIG. 11, a cross-sectional view of a step in thefabrication of a vertical FET is shown. A layer of charged dielectricmaterial is deposited and then subsequently etched away from thehorizontal surfaces using a selective anisotropic etch such as, e.g.,RIE. It is specifically contemplated that the dielectric material usedmay be, e.g., silicon nitride, though it should be understood that othermaterials such as aluminum oxide may be used instead. As with thecharged spacers 502 above, silicon nitride may be used for n-type FETsand aluminum oxide may be used for p-type FETs. Charged spacers 1102 areformed on the exposed upper sidewalls of the fins 202.

Referring now to FIG. 12, a cross-sectional view of a step in thefabrication of a vertical FET is shown. A layer of upper spacer material1202 is formed using a directional deposition process such as, e.g.,GCIB. It is specifically contemplated that the bottom spacer material1202 can be silicoboron carbonitride or any other appropriate dielectricmaterial.

Referring now to FIG. 13, a cross-sectional view of a step in thefabrication of a vertical FET is shown. An isotropic etch such as a wetor dry chemical etch is used to remove exposed portions of the chargedupper spacer material 1202, thereby exposing the a portion of the fins202. A top charged spacer 1302 remains, protected by the upper spacermaterial 1202.

Referring now to FIG. 14, a cross-sectional view of a step in thefabrication of a vertical FET is shown. A dielectric material 1402 suchas, e.g., silicon dioxide, is filled in around the fins 202 and thehardmask 104 and then polished down using, e.g., a CMP process thatstops on the hardmask 104.

Referring now to FIG. 15, a cross-sectional view of a step in thefabrication of a vertical FET is shown. The hardmask 104 is removedusing any appropriate etch. The fins 202 are then etched back to formrecessed fins 1502. Each etch may be performed using, e.g., an isotropicwet or dry chemical etch. The etch of the hardmask 104 is selective tothe hardmask material, not affecting the dielectric fill 1402 or thefins 202. The etch of the fins 202 is selective to the fin material anddoes not affect the upper charged spacers 1302 or the gate dielectric1004. The recessed fins 1502 may have a height that is somewhat higherthan the bottom of the upper spacers 1202.

Referring now to FIG. 16, a cross-sectional view of a step in thefabrication of a vertical FET is shown. A top source/drain extension1602 is epitaxially grown from the exposed surface of the recessed fins1502. The term “epitaxial growth” means the growth of a semiconductormaterial on a deposition surface of a semiconductor material, in whichthe semiconductor material being grown has substantially the samecrystalline characteristics as the semiconductor material of thedeposition surface. The term “epitaxial material” denotes a materialthat is formed using epitaxial growth. In some embodiments, when thechemical reactants are controlled and the system parameters setcorrectly, the depositing atoms arrive at the deposition surface withsufficient energy to move around on the surface and orient themselves tothe crystal arrangement of the atoms of the deposition surface. Thus, insome examples, an epitaxial film deposited on a {100} crystal surfacewill take on a {100} orientation.

It is specifically contemplated that the top source/drain extension 1602can be in situ doped with a high dopant concentration. It isspecifically contemplated that the dopant concentration in the topsource/drain extension 1602 may be between about 10¹⁸ cm⁻³ and about10²² cm³, although concentrations above and below this range are alsocontemplated. As noted above, the top source/drain extension 1602 may beformed with an n-type or p-type dopant as appropriate to the type ofdevice.

Referring now to FIG. 17, a cross-sectional view of a step in thefabrication of a vertical FET is shown. An inter-layer dielectric 1702is deposited using, e.g., CVD, PVD, ALD, or any other appropriatedeposition process. It is specifically contemplated that silicon dioxidemay be used for the inter-layer dielectric 1702, but any appropriatedielectric material may be used instead. Conductive contacts 1704 areformed by etching holes to contact the bottom source/drain extension 306and the upper source/drain extension 1602. The conductive contacts 1704may be formed from any appropriate conductive material, with metals suchas copper, silver, aluminum, and gold being specifically contemplated.Additional contacts (not shown in this cross-section) may be formed toprovide electrical connection to the gate 1002.

It is to be understood that aspects of the present invention will bedescribed in terms of a given illustrative architecture; however, otherarchitectures, structures, substrate materials and process features andsteps can be varied within the scope of aspects of the presentinvention.

It will also be understood that when an element such as a layer, regionor substrate is referred to as being “on” or “over” another element, itcan be directly on the other element or intervening elements can also bepresent. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directlyon” or “directly over” another element, there are no interveningelements present. It will also be understood that when an element isreferred to as being “connected” or “coupled” to another element, it canbe directly connected or coupled to the other element or interveningelements can be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to asbeing “directly connected” or “directly coupled” to another element,there are no intervening elements present.

The present embodiments can include a design for an integrated circuitchip, which can be created in a graphical computer programming language,and stored in a computer storage medium (such as a disk, tape, physicalhard drive, or virtual hard drive such as in a storage access network).If the designer does not fabricate chips or the photolithographic masksused to fabricate chips, the designer can transmit the resulting designby physical means (e.g., by providing a copy of the storage mediumstoring the design) or electronically (e.g., through the Internet) tosuch entities, directly or indirectly. The stored design is thenconverted into the appropriate format (e.g., GDSII) for the fabricationof photolithographic masks, which typically include multiple copies ofthe chip design in question that are to be formed on a wafer. Thephotolithographic masks are utilized to define areas of the wafer(and/or the layers thereon) to be etched or otherwise processed.

Methods as described herein can be used in the fabrication of integratedcircuit chips. The resulting integrated circuit chips can be distributedby the fabricator in raw wafer form (that is, as a single wafer that hasmultiple unpackaged chips), as a bare die, or in a packaged form. In thelatter case, the chip is mounted in a single chip package (such as aplastic carrier, with leads that are affixed to a motherboard or otherhigher level carrier) or in a multichip package (such as a ceramiccarrier that has either or both surface interconnections or buriedinterconnections). In any case, the chip is then integrated with otherchips, discrete circuit elements, and/or other signal processing devicesas part of either (a) an intermediate product, such as a motherboard, or(b) an end product. The end product can be any product that includesintegrated circuit chips, ranging from toys and other low-endapplications to advanced computer products having a display, a keyboardor other input device, and a central processor.

It should also be understood that material compounds will be describedin terms of listed elements, e.g., SiGe. These compounds includedifferent proportions of the elements within the compound, e.g., SiGeincludes Si_(x)Ge_(1-x) where x is less than or equal to 1, etc. Inaddition, other elements can be included in the compound and stillfunction in accordance with the present principles. The compounds withadditional elements will be referred to herein as alloys.

Reference in the specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment”,as well as other variations thereof, means that a particular feature,structure, characteristic, and so forth described in connection with theembodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, the appearancesof the phrase “in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment”, as well anyother variations, appearing in various places throughout thespecification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.

It is to be appreciated that the use of any of the following “/”,“and/or”, and “at least one of”, for example, in the cases of “A/B”, “Aand/or B” and “at least one of A and B”, is intended to encompass theselection of the first listed option (A) only, or the selection of thesecond listed option (B) only, or the selection of both options (A andB). As a further example, in the cases of “A, B, and/or C” and “at leastone of A, B, and C”, such phrasing is intended to encompass theselection of the first listed option (A) only, or the selection of thesecond listed option (B) only, or the selection of the third listedoption (C) only, or the selection of the first and the second listedoptions (A and B) only, or the selection of the first and third listedoptions (A and C) only, or the selection of the second and third listedoptions (B and C) only, or the selection of all three options (A and Band C). This can be extended, as readily apparent by one of ordinaryskill in this and related arts, for as many items listed.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of exampleembodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an” and “the” areintended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearlyindicates other vise. It will be further understood that the terms“comprises,” “comprising,” “includes” and/or “including,” when usedherein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps,operations, elements and/or components, but do not preclude the presenceor addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations,elements, components and/or groups thereof.

Spatially relative terms, such as “beneath,” “below,” “lower,” “above,”“upper,” and the like, can be used herein for ease of description todescribe one element's or feature's relationship to another element(s)or feature(s) as illustrated in the FIGS. It will be understood that thespatially relative teams are intended to encompass differentorientations of the device in use or operation in addition to theorientation depicted in the FIGS. For example, if the device in theFIGS. is turned over, elements described as “below” or “beneath” otherelements or features would at be oriented “above” the other elements orfeatures. Thus, the term “below” can encompass both an orientation ofabove and below. The device can be otherwise oriented (rotated 90degrees or at other orientations), and the spatially relativedescriptors used herein can be interpreted accordingly. In addition, itwill also be understood that when a layer is referred to as being“between” two layers, it can be the only layer between the two layers,or one or more intervening layers can also be present.

It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. canbe used herein to describe various elements, these elements should notbe limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish oneelement from another element. Thus, a first element discussed belowcould be termed a second element without departing from the scope of thepresent concept.

Referring now to FIG. 18, a process for forming a vertical FET withreduced source/drain resistance is shown. Block 1802 forms fins 202 in asubstrate 102 by, e.g., forming hardmask 104 and isotropically etchingthe substrate 102 in areas that are not protected by the hardmask 104.Block 1804 forms a protective dielectric film 302 over the fins 202,protecting the sidewalls of the fins 202 from a doping process in block1806 that dopes the substrate 102 around the fins 202. Block 1808removes the protective film 302.

Block 1810 anneals the doped substrate to cause the implanted dopant 306spread to the bottom portions 406 of the fins 202. The doped regions 306form the lower source/drain extensions. Block 1812 forms a chargeddielectric layer 502 on the fin sidewalls by depositing a conformallayer of charged dielectric material and then anisotropically etchingthe charged dielectric material from horizontal surfaces. Block 1814forms bottom spacer 602 using a directional deposition process such as,e.g., GCIB to form a layer of, e.g., silicoboron carbonitride. Block1816 etches away portions of the charged dielectric layer 502 that areexposed above the bottom spacer 602, leaving behind lower chargeddielectric spacers 702.

Block 1818 forms a gate stack by, e.g., conformally depositing adielectric layer 802 followed by a gate material 804, polishing down tothe level of the hardmask 104, and then etching the gate material 804and dielectric layer 802 back to form gate 1002 and gate dielectric1004.

Block 1820 forms a charged dielectric layer 1102 on the sidewalls of thefins 202. Block 1822 forms upper spacer 1202 by a directional depositionprocess such as, e.g., GCIB and block 1826 etches away exposed portionsof the charged dielectric layer 1102 that are exposed above the upperspacer 1202, leaving behind upper charged dielectric spacers 702.

Block 1828 deposits dielectric fill 1402 around the fins 202 andhardmask 104 using, e.g., a flowable CVD process. Block 1830 removes thehardmask 104 and etches back the fins 202 to form recessed fins 1502having a height that is at or above the lower surface of the upperspacers 1202. Block 1832 epitaxially grows a doped semiconductorstructure from the top surfaces of the recessed fins 1502, for exampleusing in situ doping to form upper source/drain extension 1602. Block1834 then finishes the device by forming an interlayer dielectric 1702and contacts 1704 that provide electrical connectivity to thesource/drain regions.

Having described preferred embodiments of a system and method (which areintended to be illustrative and not limiting), it is noted thatmodifications and variations can be made by persons skilled in the artin light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood thatchanges may be made in the particular embodiments disclosed which arewithin the scope of the invention as outlined by the appended claims.

Having thus described aspects of the invention, with the details and particularity required by the patent laws, what is claimed and desired protected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims:
 1. A method for forming a semiconductor device, comprising: forming first charged spacers on sidewalls of a semiconductor fin; forming a gate stack on the fin, over the first charged spacers; forming second charged spacers on sidewalls of the fin above the gate stack; and recessing the fin to a height below a top level of the second charged spacers.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising forming a bottom spacer after forming the first charged spacers.
 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising etching away material from the first charged spacers that is above a top level of the bottom spacer.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising forming an upper spacer on the gate stack after forming the second charged spacers.
 5. The method of claim 4, further comprising etching away material from the second charged spacers that is above a top level of the upper spacer.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein recessing the fin comprises recessing the fin to a level above a top surface of the gate stack.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second charged layers comprise a material selected from the group consisting of charged silicon nitride and charged aluminum oxide.
 9. A semiconductor device, comprising: one or more semiconductor fins formed on a semiconductor substrate; a lower spacer formed above the substrate; first charged spacers formed on sidewalls of the one or more semiconductor fins; a gate stack formed above the first charged spacers and the lower spacer; and second charged spacers formed on sidewalls of the one or more semiconductor fins above the gate stack.
 10. The semiconductor device of claim 9, wherein the first charged spacers have a height that is the same as a height of the lower spacer.
 11. The semiconductor device of claim 9, further comprising an upper spacer formed over the gate stack.
 12. The semiconductor device of claim 11, wherein the second charged spacers have a height that is the same as a height of the upper spacer.
 13. The semiconductor device of claim 9, wherein the first and second charged layers comprise a material selected from the group consisting of charged silicon nitride and charged aluminum oxide. 